The more we learn about memory, the weirder it gets For much of the history of brain science, the word “engram” has been a bit of a catch-all term, referring to the hypothetical physical incarnation of memory. If this turned out to be a storm of electrical activity, then that’s what the engram would be; if it turned out that networks of physical neurons were the home of specific memories, then an engram was that, instead. Lately, though, the word has gotten a lot more specific. We now have the term “memory neurons” to refer to the nerve cells of the hippocampus, which seem to play a crucial role in storing and retrieving memories. Since the original proof that at least some memory is localized to specific physical neurons just a few short years ago, understanding of the physical basis of memory has advanced at a lightning pace. Even in the past year, scientists have made incredible strides. Here is a rat set up so that certain neurons will fire in response to a UV light. Brain implants are still a bit unwieldy…
In Sea Rescues, The Eagle Eyes Are Pigeons The Coast Guard intends to spend $146,000 over the next two years to train a "rescue squab" of pigeons to find people lost at sea. A Navy report just released says that in experiments, pigeons strapped on a helicopter outdid Coast Guard air crews every time in spotting objects tossing on the ocean's surface. But, in the first flight casualty of its kind, the first three pigeon graduates drowned at sea when the helicopter they were riding in ran out of fuel and crash-landed off Hawaii. The humans got out unscathed. The Coast Guard is paying the Navy to train 10 more pigeons for rescue duty as part of Project Sea Hunt. These pigeons will be better protected on their air rescue missions, Douglas Conley, Coast Guard project officer, said an interview yesterday. Instead of riding in a plastic bubble underneath the helicopter, as was the case in the fateful Febuary crash, the pigeons will ride in a capsule on the side of the helicopter, Conley said. "Those pigeons really did well," Conley said.
Updated Brain Map Identifies Nearly 100 New Regions The first hints of the brain’s hidden geography emerged more than 150 years ago. In the 1860s, the physician Pierre Paul Broca was intrigued by two of his patients who were unable to speak. After they died, Broca examined their brains. On the outer layer, called the cortex, he found that both had suffered damage to the same patch of tissue. That region came to be known as Broca’s area. Photo In the late 1800s, a group of German researchers identified other regions of the cortex, each having distinct types of cells packed together in unique ways. Neuroscientists have relied on his hand-drawn map ever since, adding a modest number of new regions with their own research. Three years ago, Dr. The project team recorded high-resolution images of each participant’s brain, and then recorded its activity during hours of tests on memory, language and other kinds of thought. In addition to looking at the activity of the brain, the scientists also looked at its anatomy. Dr. Dr.
A single high dose of psilocybin alters brain function up to one month later New research provides evidence that the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms can affect brain processes related to emotional functioning long after the substance has left one’s body. The findings, published in Scientific Reports, shed new light on the long-term effects of psilocybin. Rather than examining the brain while it’s under the influence of psilocybin, the researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine were interested in the enduring impact of the substance. “Nearly all psychedelic imaging studies have been conducted during acute effects of psychedelic drugs. In the study, 12 volunteers received a single administration of a high dose of psilocybin. The researchers found that self-reported emotional distress was reduced one week after psilocybin administration, but returned to baseline levels at one month after psilocybin administration. Because of the small sample size and lack of a control group, however, the findings should be considered preliminary.
Mike the Headless Chicken Beheading[edit] On September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, United States, was planning to eat supper with his mother-in-law and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen chose a five-and-a-half-month-old cockerel named Mike. Due to Olsen's failed attempt to behead Mike, Mike was still able to balance on a perch and walk clumsily. When Mike did not die, Olsen instead decided to care for the bird. Fame[edit] Mike was put on display to the public for an admission cost of twenty-five cents. Death[edit] In March 1947, at a motel in Phoenix on a stopover while traveling back from tour, Mike started choking in the middle of the night. Post mortem[edit] It was determined that the axe had missed the jugular vein[6] and a clot had prevented Mike from bleeding to death. Legacy[edit] Mike the Headless Chicken is now an institution in Fruita, Colorado, with an annual "Mike the Headless Chicken Day", the third weekend of May, starting in 1999.
researchers devise treatment that relieved depression in 90% of participants in small study “There was a constant chattering in my brain: It was my own voice talking about depression, agony, hopelessness,” she said. “I told my husband, ‘I’m going down and I’m heading toward suicide.’ There seemed to be no other option.” Lehman’s psychiatrist had heard of the SAINT study and referred her to Stanford. “By the third round, the chatter started to ease,” she said. “That was the most peace there’s been in my brain since I was 16 and started down the path to bipolar disorder.” In transcranial magnetic stimulation, electric currents from a magnetic coil placed on the scalp excite a region of the brain implicated in depression. Stanford researchers hypothesized that some modifications to transcranial magnetic stimulation could improve its effectiveness. Other studies suggested that accelerating the treatment would help relieve patients’ depression more rapidly. Strengthening a weak connection One month after the therapy, 60% of participants were still in remission from depression.
Phineas Gage American brain injury survivor (1823–1860) Phineas P. Gage (1823–1860) was an American railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable[B1]: 19 survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behavior over the remaining 12 years of his life—effects sufficiently profound that friends saw him (for a time at least) as "no longer Gage". [H]: 14 The iron's path, per Harlow[H]: 21 A report of Gage's physical and mental condition shortly before his death implies that his most serious mental changes were temporary, so that in later life he was far more functional, and socially far better adapted, than in the years immediately following his accident. Life[edit] Background[edit] Gage was the first of five children born to Jesse Eaton Gage and Hannah Trussell (Swetland) Gage of Grafton County, New Hampshire. Accident[edit] Injuries[edit]
Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation of the Prefrontal Cortex in Cocaine Use Disorder: A Pilot Study | Neuroscience Introduction According to the World Drug Report 2017, 17 million people were past-year cocaine users in 2015 and cocaine seizures were reported in 153 countries during the period 2010–2015 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2017), suggesting that trafficking in cocaine is a global phenomenon. Noteworthy, after cannabis, cocaine accounts for the largest quantities seized. After a long-term decline, coca bush cultivation increased over the period 2013–2015 and current data on drug production, trafficking and consumption confirm an extension of the market for cocaine (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2017). In recent years, a wealth of clinical and animal studies has advanced our understanding of the brain mechanisms sustaining cocaine use and promoting dependence (Hanlon and Canterberry, 2012; Castilla-Ortega et al., 2017; Dobbs et al., 2017). Drug craving has been acknowledged as a relevant construct in the pathophysiology of addiction. Subjects Figure 1.
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat | Oliver Sacks, M.D. | Author, Neurologist | On The Move, Hallucinations, Musicophilia, Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Here Dr. Sacks recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders: people afflicted with fantastic perceptual and intellectual aberrations; patients who have lost their memories and with them the greater part of their pasts; who are no longer able to recognize people and common objects; who are stricken with violent tics and grimaces or who shout involuntary obscenities; whose limbs have become alien; who have been dismissed as retarded yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. If inconceivably strange, these brilliant tales remain, in Dr. “Short narratives, essays, parables about patients with a great range of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions, written in a lighter, more informal style than I had ever used before. Praise for The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: “A provocative introduction to the marvels of the human mind….”Clarence E. “Dr. “Dr.
Traumatic Brain Injury | The NSF Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) Traumatic Brain Injury: A Neural Network Journey (DRAFT) Grades: Six to 12 This seven-lesson unit, aimed at middle school and high school students, provides background in neuroanatomy, neuroscience, and neural engineering with a special focus on traumatic brain injury. The plans were created by Michael Shaw, Cleveland High School (Seattle, Wash.), and Shannon Jephson-Hernandez, Mill Creek Middle School (Kent, Wash.). The unit culminates in a script writing exercise, with students composing a special report on traumatic brain injury. Students will build models, field webquests, conduct research, and take part in hands-on investigations. All lesson plans are aligned to the Washington State K-12 Science Standards, Next Generation Science Standards, and Common Core State Standards.